2017 Katahdin Wines (long)
I wrote these notes 4 – 6 days after the wines were tasted, my memories are pretty clear but I wish I had gotten to it sooner. For the record, the first wines were consumed in my home by me and Sally, and Chris and Marjorie Bublitz. The others were consumed at Chimney Pond Campground on Mount Katahdin by me, Chris and Marjorie.
At my home, Thursday August 10th.
There were two sparklers we drank that evening to which I have some connection. I’ve written my notes but will wait to post until I figure out how to present them. Here are the others:
2001 Mayacamas Chardonnay – Medium gold color. Lovely secondary aromas feature pear, pine and hazelnut. The palate is quite rich with an almost oily texture. The flavors are fully secondary with a beautiful balance between honeyed age and mountain freshness. The ripe pear flavors have touches of both apple and peach and apricot (fresh, not anything like botrytis) and the texture unfolds in layers, with a very long finish. This is a beautiful wine at peak. Rated about 94.0, drink up.
2005 Bernard Morey Chassagne 1er Cru Caillerets – Medium straw color. Secondary aromas feature ripe apple and pear with some distinct minerality. The flavors mimic the aromas perfectly, this is medium bodied, beautifully balanced, secondary but still with youth an vigor, more so than the previous. There is a piquancy and freshness to this that is a contrast to the Mayacamas, it is very pretty but without the weight and gravitas. Rated 92.5, possible slight improvement for another year or two.
At Chimney Pond Campground on Mount Katahdin, in a lean-to on Saturday August 12th.
2012 Dublere Volnay 1er Cru ‘Taillepieds’ [decanted into plastic and hiked up 3+ miles on Friday by Chris] – The other reds we had were on another level, but in retrospect this was perhaps the best match to the mountain setting. No possibility of judging color (I thought a later Sauternes had gone completely brown, flashlight inspection picked up hints of gold). Lovely fresh aromas of red cherries, minerals and a strange but welcome and integrated hint of mint. The palate was fresh and vigorous, but not lacking in solidity with excellent balance. The fruits remain mostly red but with touches of black cherry and raspberry. Rated 91.8, up to two points of improvement likely over the next 5+ years, but no reason not to drink it now if you’re thirsty and like young Burgundy.
1996 Mongeard-Mugneret Grands Echezeaux [hiked up Saturday, about 5 hours before drinking] – I swear the color was pretty brickish on decanting and a healthier red on arrival. Aromas are blackberries, black cherries and red meat, with a broad streak of sous-bois (hardwood forest after rain) running through it. The palate offers some real weight, heavy on the meat, fine intensity, earthy, but excellent balance. The fruit flavors now show equal red and black, mostly cherries within a panoply of blackberry and red and black raspberry. I can live with the contradiction of stately vigor. Rated 96.0, fully mature but in no danger of decline.
1998 La Mission Haut Brion [hiked up Friday] – The aromas are beautiful, featuring ripe red and black plums, minerals, and the first hint of oak (but not much and beautifully integrated). The palate is shining, glistening, excellent weight and intensity, superb purity of fruit, mostly red, but a very deep red. This is still young with right provenance and storage, but at full maturity after the decant and hike. There is a polish and refinement here that I don’t associate with camping and previous bottles of aged Bordeaux have not done well on the mountain, but this was a glory. Rated 96.0, might have been better in a more elegant setting and certainly could improve a point or two over the next 5 – 10 years.
For me, the 1996 Burgundy was ever so slightly more enjoyable than the Bordeaux, but that has to do with setting. I felt the wine quality was equal, but with the Bordeaux still able to improve for a long time while the Burg is at peak.
My deep thanks to Chris and Marjorie Bublitz, first for making the trek and next for bringing and drinking the wine. Chris always gifts Sally with something she will really enjoy… she hasn’t yet opened Chris’s gift for this year, a half bottle of 1997 Yquem!
I have drunk fine and great wine at Chimney Pond for 19 of the past 22 years and invite all board members to join us in the future. Chimney Pond is one of the world’s most beautiful places. We eat decent food, drink great wine and hike some of the world’s great trails. It does not get better.
Dan Kravitz